It's been quite awhile since I've done my Monday Movie Review post. With the busy-ness of guests visiting, school ending and vacation trips I haven't had time. And I guess this post could technically go under my movie reviews but more importantly than my review of the movie was the awesome metaphor I heard used in it.
I definitely recommend this movie, "The Case for Faith". It's a thoughtful meditation on the rational case for faith, and investigates tough intellectual objections to Christianity: Why is Jesus the only path to God? And if God is so loving, then why is there so much suffering? Besides the Catholic blogs on my sidebar list, I also do follow and read up on some Protestant blogs. And I also follow discussion boards where Christians interact with people from other religions as well as atheists.
Obviously since I am Catholic I would recommend books or dvd's by Catholic authors, but it's not to say I am opposed to recommending non-Catholic Christian works. And in this movie's case the author's Protestant slant isn't predominant in his presentations, therefore I believe Strobel's answers can help clarify in Christian viewers' minds their opinions when discussing faith with their skeptical friends.
So rent it or stream it from Netflix, it's worth the time to watch it!
The awesome metaphor I heard while watching the movie was from one of the guest speakers on the movie, a paraplegic woman, discussing the topic of if God is so loving why is there evil in this world. This topic can somewhat be hard to understand, especially for skeptical persons that possibly object there is a God. As Christians we are comforted and continue on with hope by His Word. But many times skeptics find using His Word to answer the question about why a loving God would allow evil is circular reasoning. So when this woman in the movie used a non-Biblical metaphor - it made awesome sense! Well to me anyways - and also maybe because her metaphor is easily related to by parents. She looked at it like this, when a baby is given an immunization shot, the baby does not understand why an immunization is needed, all the baby knows is that this shot causes great pain and suffering (well it's short lived :). But if you were to ask any toddler at their well check up visit if they would like a shot as opposed to a sticker, I guarantee all toddlers would refuse the shot and say, "No way Jose ma'am!". Because to them they don't see (or understand) the good (comfort and hope) that comes later from the present bad (pain and suffering) that the shot causes.
So bad things will continue to happen in this world, and God is present when they happen. Jesus defines discipleship as one's willingness to suffer with Him. So as Christians we must offer our sufferings to the Father as He did. The sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. We thus have hope that any sufferings we or others endure, no matter how difficult, will pale in comparison to the life of eternal bliss that awaits us. Rom. 8:18 If we unite our sufferings with His, we will be comforted by Him. 2 Cor. 1:5-7 Lastly, suffering causes us to turn to God and purifies us from sin because Jesus' grace is sufficient, for His power is made perfect in weakness. If we are weak, we are strong in Christ.
1 comment:
Amen! That is a good metaphor. That is what I always try to remember, God only knows why I am going throught his but in the end it is supposed make me stronger in my faith, not doubtful. Thanks for the reminder!
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